Clochette (Maupassant)
Short Summary
France, late 19th century. The narrator recalled his childhood memories of Mother Clochette, an old seamstress who visited his family's country house weekly to mend linen.
Mother Clochette was a peculiar-looking, hairy woman who limped and told fascinating stories. One day, the narrator found her dead in the linen room.
Later, the narrator overheard a doctor revealing Mother Clochette's tragic past. As a young woman named Hortense, she had a secret affair with an assistant teacher. When caught by the schoolmaster, she jumped from a hayloft to protect her lover.
'You will come and pick me up when he is gone,' and she jumped out... Old Grabu found nobody, and went down again in great surprise, and a quarter of an hour later, Monsieur Sigisbert came to me and related his adventure.
The fall broke her leg in three places, leaving her permanently lamed. The doctor admired her heroism and sacrifice, keeping her secret until her death. The story concluded with the narrator, still a child, sobbing in an armchair as Mother Clochette's body was carried away.
Detailed Summary
The division of the summary into chapters is conditional.
The Narrator's Childhood Memories
The story began with the narrator reflecting on the persistence of old memories.
How strange those old recollections are which haunt us, without our being able to get rid of them. This one is so very old that I cannot understand how it has clung so vividly and tenaciously to my memory.
The narrator recalled his childhood, when he was ten or twelve years old, living in a country house with his parents. Every Thursday, an old seamstress named Mother Clochette came to mend the linen.
Mother Clochette was described as a tall, thin woman with an unusual beard growing all over her face. She had a distinctive limp and wore a large white cap. The narrator adored her and often sat with her in the linen room, listening to her stories.
She had, as far as I can remember the things which she told me and by which my childish heart was moved, the large heart of a poor woman. She told me what had happened in the village...
The Tragic Discovery
One Tuesday, after spending the morning listening to Mother Clochette's stories, the narrator went to pick hazelnuts with the manservant. Later, he returned to the linen room and found Mother Clochette lying on the ground, motionless. The narrator ran away, screaming, and soon learned that Mother Clochette had died.
I cannot describe the profound, poignant, terrible emotion which stirred my childish heart. I went slowly down into the drawing-room and hid myself in a dark corner, in the depths of an immense old armchair, where I knelt down and wept.
That evening, the narrator overheard a conversation between his parents and the doctor who had been called to attend to Mother Clochette's death.
The Doctor's Revelation
The doctor began to recount a story from Mother Clochette's past, which he had never shared before.
'She was seventeen, and a pretty girl, very pretty! Would any one believe it? I have never told her story before, and nobody except myself and one other person who is no longer living in this part of the country ever knew it.'
The doctor revealed that when Mother Clochette was young, she had fallen in love with a handsome assistant teacher named Sigisbert. They had arranged a secret meeting in the school's hay-loft, but were interrupted by the schoolmaster, old Grabu.
In a panic, Sigisbert hid Hortense (Mother Clochette's real name) and lied to the schoolmaster. When Grabu went to fetch a light, Sigisbert urged Hortense to hide better. In desperation, she jumped out of the second-story window, breaking her leg in three places.
The doctor found her and took her to his home. He fabricated a story about a runaway carriage to explain her injuries. Hortense never revealed the truth about what happened, protecting Sigisbert's reputation and career.
'I am punished, well punished!'... That is all! And I say that this woman was a heroine and belonged to the race of those who accomplish the grandest deeds of history. That was her only love affair, and she died a virgin.
The doctor concluded his story, deeply moved by Mother Clochette's sacrifice and nobility. The narrator's parents left the room, and the child remained hidden, sobbing in the armchair.
They were carrying away Clochette's body.
The story ended with this poignant image, leaving a lasting impression of Mother Clochette's tragic life and heroic character.